Chris Murnane Is Fighting To Save Carlsbad, California…
Malls choke the character out of a town and Southern California is starting to look blue in the face. For every victory in preservation of space and small business, the golden coast is smothered in generic chain restaurants, big box retailers, and homogenized watering holes.
Malls offer an experience that can be found anywhere there’s a major freeway. Sure, they’re convenient for the passer-bys, but they hardly benefit those who make up the pulse of the town.
The California Coastal Commission has remained politically independent in the fight to assure that our coastlines remain open to all Californians but giant developers like Caruso Affiliated have quite the pull in local politics.
The corporation is responsible for The Grove shopping mall, a colossus in Anaheim that sees more patrons a year than Disneyland. Caruso Affiliate now has its eyes and checkbook on the south shore of the Hedionda Lagoon, a estuary that feeds into the Carlsbad surf spot, Warm Water Jetties.
One of the wave’s proudest exploits, Chris Murnane, is pissed off and vows not to let Carlsbad submit to the fast buck and compromise the character of his hometown.
Who is this young virtuoso? A brief introduction.
Chris Murnane is 19 years old and has called Carlsbad home for the entirety of his existence. He works at Surf Ride, pleasantly placing tail pads on new surf boards and offering advice with a winning grin. He studies philosophy at Mira Costa college and seeks the truth in all situations.
In the water, he dazzles with a fluid and effortless style. On land, he’s a shaggy blonde who rocks a folded beenie like Che Guevara did a beret. A tuned in youth, Chris has asserted himself on the front lines, fighting Caruso and his proposed mall.
Through his struggle with local politics and the influence of corporate money on proposed development, we learn what is worth protecting, what is worth fighting for, and why surfers make the best environmental activists.
Indulge in his teenage rebellion and get involved in the fight.
BeachGrit: You think your town is at risk of losing something irreplaceable?
Chris: Totally. I don’t have a bone to pick with the city council or with Caruso. I love Carlsbad, I love my community and its being screwed over by people who don’t love it. It’s not that I hate the developer, its that we have to fight for the character that makes Carlsbad unique. Once you build a mall, there is no going back.
BeachGrit: They already have the power plant on the north shore of this lagoon, a mall would just complete the look of ecological ruin.
Chris: The power plant as it stands is going down in 2018. They are taking it out and putting in a new one that isn’t such an eye sore. But really what this is about is that the people in charge of our city have an outdated vision of the American dream circa 1955. They propose development at any costs and I think that opposes what makes Carlsbad special. Rampant development of our city is not what we need.
BeachGrit: Its something you are seeing across America. Do you think the mall will kill The Carlsbad Village?
Chris: The 91-12 report found that local businesses will be hurt for 18 months after the creation of the mall and that they may return to normal once the mall has lost its sheen. But how many places can withstand a year and a half of shitty sales? Not many dude. Proponents of the mall have been saying how many jobs it will add but they aren’t mentioning all the pre-existing jobs that will be lost and lives that it will ruin.
BeachGrit: Refresh me on the geography. This is the lagoon that feeds directly out to the surf spot, Warm Water Jetties?
Chris: The proposed build site is on the shore of the lagoon!
BeachGrit: Is it terra firma or we talking marsh lands?
Chris: Well, right now its farmland but the land surrounding the lagoon is integral to it, and they are rolling the dice that a 585,000 square foot mall wouldn’t crush the ecosystem. As someone who looks in on the lagoon when I’m surfing, I feel like it’s our job to protect it.
BeachGrit: I read that there’s an aqua farm in a section of the lagoon and its been quite successful in bringing back a species of bass. I’m bet being downstream from a mall isn’t going to help.
Chris: That’s what really pisses me off is because the developer says that the mega mall will clean up the lagoon.
Beach Grit: As opposed to farm runoff?
Chris: Well, as opposed to as it is now but what about the potential for a different kind of project? You can’t get back what we’ve lost, but we can protect what hasn’t been corrupted yet. We can decide. The people have got the power but we have to vocalize what we want for our towns because politicians are just looking to cash out.
BeachGrit: How can someone help?
Chris: Instead of sending the lagoon mall to a vote next November, costing 25 grand, or placing it on the ballot in June, costing 50 grand, our city council decided to create a special election in February costing $500 thousand dollars. They know that if we have a whole year to talk about the lagoon mall it would get vetoed down, so they made a special election so the least amount of people will vote. Despite the mall’s 35,000 daily visitors adding a ton of traffic to all of North County, San Diego, they have made the vote only for Carlsbad citizens. If you want to make a difference, get the word out that measure A is going to be detrimental to the environment and local business. Use your passions and get involved whats happening in your city so that our coastlines don’t get destroyed. If we remain ignorant of the intentions of these developers, the souls of our cities will be sold for profit.
And watch Chris surf, here!
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Look at what happened to one of the last coastal bluffs in San Clemente. It now has a massive hideous mall on it.
A surfer who goes to Mira Costa college. What a shocker.
I’m pretty sure Cori Schumacher would have been a better spokesperson for this cause…she’s also a hell of a lot more involved with actual political and community opposition to the plan.
if this build this pile of shit, i will egg it every night.
This may be detrimental to your immigration application Mr Toledo.
I don’t have a dog in this fight, but when did The Grove move to Anaheim? And isn’t the reason the vote’s only for Carlsbad residents because the property is in…Carlsbad? I bet you could have found a more compelling guy to make the case here.
A rather eloquent 19-year-old, and would ya look at that, he surfs well. This project is fucked for the city of Carlsbad, and they are billing this monstrosity as essentially quaint small businesses with idyllic interlocking hiking trails. The ignorant and apathetic are in for a real treat when this gets the OK, as the traffic they currently hate with a fire of a thousand suns will now reach levels of clusterfuck never quite seen in North County.
This project would absolutely ruin that stretch of coast for good. No question.
Dude’s righteous.